Rodriguez, the head of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, has a naturally boisterous voice that booms with authority. When he speaks about immigration, passion oozes out of every syllable. But his voice softens as he speaks of those close to him who have been deported: an associate pastor's wife, a friend from Sacramento, California, a well-known congregant - the list seems committed to memory.

Even as he relives the heartache, the pastor seems hopeful, if not optimistic.

Rodriguez, along with a number of other high-profile evangelical leaders, many of whom who have worked on immigration reform for decades, are betting that 2013 represents the best opportunity they've ever had to get meaningful reforms passed. Proof of their confidence: A coalition of evangelical groups is launching what many are calling the “largest ever grass-roots push on immigration.”

“We have a moral imperative to act,” Rodriguez exclaims. “This is the year. This is the evangelical hour to lead in a justice issue.”

In the mind of many evangelical leaders, the reverend is right.

Betting on 2013

The coalition is called the Evangelical Immigration Table and it is brought together a diverse mix of evangelical groups, including the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the National Association of Evangelicals, Sojourners and Focus on the Family.

Though the groups began holding broader discussion two years ago, Monday will serve as the campaign's first concerted push on immigration, with the goal of getting meaningful immigration reform through Congress in 2013.

“I think we have a window of opportunity in these first months of 2013,” Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, told CNN. “I think there is a real, new conversation on immigration reform.”

That window, Land acknowledges, is small and could close at any point. Congress has a number of issues to deal with in the coming year; Republican members of Congress hope to focus on government spending and the debt, while the White House is likely to push for gun control early in the president’s second term.

Land, however, says that isn’t an excuse.

“I am hopeful that Congress can walk and chew gum and the same time,” Land said. “I am hopeful they can deal with more than one issue at the same time.”

The group has already released an open letter to Congress and the White House. In it, they the group presses Congress to respect “the God-given dignity of every person” and establish a “path toward legal status and/or citizenship for those who qualify and wish to become permanent residents.”

“As evangelical leaders, we live every day with the reality that our immigration system doesn’t reflect our commitment to the values of human dignity, family unity and respect for the rule of law that define us as Americans,” the letter states. “Initiatives by both parties to advance commonsense fixes to our immigration policies have stalled in years past.”

Since the group's launch last June, organizers have been fundraising and placing people in three states, Colorado, Florida and Texas, to lay the groundwork with local evangelical leaders and politicians. By making these early investments, coalition leaders hope there will be a highly reactive group of evangelicals ready to push for immigration reform.

In addition to local networking, these evangelical leaders have begun lobbying leaders in both the U.S. House and Senate and plan to do more “grass-roots lobbying,” including bringing people to Capitol Hill in the future.

According to Jim Wallis, CEO of Sojourners and a leader in the coalition, the group has met with “top-level White House officials” as well as Democratic and Republican leaders "from Chuck Schumer to Lindsey Graham."

“Immigration reform, fixing this broken system, has a chance of being the first thing, maybe the one thing, that I think could really be accomplished in a bipartisan way,” Wallis said. “Courageous, bold, bipartisan decisions that do the right thing are not real common (in Washington), but I think this is really possible now.”

Making the focus biblical

For Richard Land and other coalition leaders, this is not just a moral issue, it is also biblical.

“For those of us who are people of faith, these are issues that our faith informs,” Land said. “For us, this is an issue that is rending the social fabric of the nation and causing a great deal of human suffering. As people of faith, we need to address it.”

The campaign will release a video on Monday that features more than a dozen evangelical leaders reading the text of Matthew 25:31-46.

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him…” reads Max Lucado, a well-known evangelical pastor and author.

“He will sit on his glorious throne, all the nations gathered before him…” continues John Perkins, an evangelical author and speaker.

The video continues this way for more than two minutes, evangelical leader after evangelical leader reading a biblical text that stresses the importance of helping “a stranger.”

“'For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me,'” Jesus says, describing the Final Judgment. “'Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'”

In addition to the video's release, the coalition organizers have asked local leaders to encourage their congregations to take the “I Was a Stranger Challenge.” Those who take the challenge will receive daily verses of scripture that might apply to the immigration issue – with the hope that they will use them in prayer – and a “Toolkit” to help spread the word on the need for immigration reform.

“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them,” reads the first text, citing Genesis 1:27.

“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands,” reads the last text, citing Revelation 7:9.

Pastors are also being urged to use their sermons to speak about the need to help "strangers" and relate immigration reform to Christian values.

In total, the organizers believe the campaign will reach more than 100,000 churches.

“Evangelicals have been converted by the Bible and by Jesus on the issue of welcoming strangers,” Wallis said. “It is very clear if you go around the country, this is a conversion here. It is a biblical conversion. What Jesus says is the way you treat the stranger is the way you treat me.”

‘The right thing for the wrong reasons’

Coalition leaders also see the 2012 election results, particularly the fact that Republican nominee Mitt Romney struggled mightily among Hispanic voters, as a powerful tool they can use against reluctant politicians. Land, who has long counseled Republican presidents on religious issues, says he plans to use the 2012 election to his favor when talking to legislators.

“We plan to point out that if the GOP ... wants to be a viable national party in the future, then it is going to have to get more Hispanic votes then it did in the last election,” Land said. When asked if he is comfortable with getting immigration reform passed by using political and election bargaining, Land laughed.

“Maybe [the Republican Party] should do the right thing for the wrong reasons,” he said.

But Republicans are not the only group faced with changing demographics. Evangelical Christians, too, are seeing the makeup of their churches change drastically.

Nearly one-fifth (19%) of Hispanics in the United States identify as Protestant, a Pew Research study found in 2012. On top of that, Hispanics are nearly twice as likely to say they are “born again” or evangelical as opposed to mainline Protestant.

Though Hispanics are still more likely to identify as Catholic – 62% do so, according to Pew – evangelical leaders say they see signs that the number of Hispanics in their churches will only grow in the future.

“The growth in most of our churches is because of immigration. That is the future of our churches,” Wallis said matter-of-factly.

That change is evidenced in the ethnic makeup of the coalition’s leadership. Luis Cortés, president of the evangelical group Esperanza, Gabriel Salguero, president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, and Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, all signed on to the group early. Additionally, many of the local pastors are from primarily Hispanic churches.

Wallis concludes: “This is our growth, these are out brothers and sisters. We are a diverse body of Christ, we are a very diverse community. This is our family and this is our future.”

soundoff(1,205 Responses)

Bob

'god' is an idiotic idea promoted by immoral people to control and pacify the weak minded.

January 13, 2013 at 9:42 am |

ML

I agree that the Churches and ANY religious associaton should not be allowed to participate. We as a society have allowed religious groups to prosper and squander riches from the public. In the same sense, religion is not needed at all to commit a movement of this kind. People have morals with or without religion, we are born and raised that way, and religion plays absolutely no role. Science should play a role in leading our growth as humans, not a bunch of unintelligent, uneducated and unreputable morons who dicate our fates for no good reason.

January 13, 2013 at 9:41 am |

dreamer96

Illegals Should be deported...The Counsel of Native American Tribes in the United States totally agrees with this...

Yep all you Pale faces should leave the country..We made a big mistake letting you get off your boats in the first place....

January 13, 2013 at 9:40 am |

Beans

You never would have been capable to stop the Europeans anyways.

Ever heard of "Right of Conquest?"

January 13, 2013 at 9:47 am |

GW Carter

Excellent point, dreamer! This continent was originally populated by people of color, only, not whites. Foolish white people seem to forget that they are here because of illegal immigration by thier ancestors.

January 13, 2013 at 11:07 am |

usresham

When religion enters politics – GOD runs away.

January 13, 2013 at 9:39 am |

Frank

A family torn apart by deportation? Did we care about breaking up the GAMBINO FAMILY!? THE ARE BREAKING THE DAM LAW! THEY ARE MAKING A MOCKERY OF OUR NATION! Spitting in the faces of every American in this nation!

January 13, 2013 at 9:35 am |

Frank

A family torn apart by deportation? Did we care about breaking up the GAMBINO FAMILY!? THE ARE BREAKING THE DAM LAW!
THEY AR MAKING A MOCKERY OF OUR NATION!

January 13, 2013 at 9:34 am |

Fred Smith

More liberal class warfare fear mongering from CNN the mouth of racism and hate.

January 13, 2013 at 9:33 am |

bigfoot

FU.

January 13, 2013 at 9:39 am |

Fernando

Ironically, the people who regurgitate the mantra, "Illegal is illegal," or simplistically implore, "What is it about 'illegal' that you don't understand?" share much of the same mentality as that of the religious fundamentalist.
If the law was that simple and that self-evident, lawyers would be fewer and they'd more resemble clergy or shamans.

January 13, 2013 at 9:33 am |

WW

I don't want to be hit over the head with some nut's crutches.

January 13, 2013 at 9:31 am |

dreamer96

WW

They call them NUNchucks ......

January 13, 2013 at 9:37 am |

Reality Check

Families are not torn apart by deportation. They are torn apart because criminals decided to commit a criminal act by entering American illegally.

January 13, 2013 at 9:29 am |

Steve

Too bad you don't know the definition of "criminal." It isn't a crime to be present in the United States without being a citizen, permanent resident, or foreigner in possession of a visa. Illegal immigration is a civil matter–just like defamation, negligence, breach of contract, etc.

January 13, 2013 at 9:45 am |

religions_5uck

Evangelicals are the ruthless rich – they prey on and suck the blood of the weakest.

January 13, 2013 at 9:29 am |

jakku

What about pushing for gun reforms and condemning guns as anti-christian since Jesus was a tolerant peace loving human who never used a weapon in his life, but yet managed to change humanity to levels never seen in history. He did all that without guns. Perhaps, christian missionaries should start promoting that image rather than picking up useless topics like this to fight on.

January 13, 2013 at 9:27 am |

grafixer

This is not a "useless topic". But, yes, the Christian Jesus would not have been in favor of automatic weapons and large capacity magazines. My concern is this... Churches and religious organizations should not have the power to, as organizations, engage in political and governmental issues. There is a separation of church and state for a reason. It protects the government from intrusion, the citizens from prejudice, and the churches from control.

January 13, 2013 at 9:32 am |

Socialism-Communisim-Globalism-A-Love-Affair

There is NO spearation of Church and state but if churches are going to push immigration then they need to lose their tax exemption.

January 13, 2013 at 9:59 am |

jonat

By the way the photo says it all, half empty church pews are the reason churches want more immigration. They want to add to their membership rolls and view illegals as a way to do it. Church membership has been in decline for 20 years they are hard up to put money in their offering plates

January 13, 2013 at 9:26 am |

Sally White Bread

Yes! Send back all of those illegal aliens! Well, except for my nanny, my housekeeper, and the gardener. Best 8 dollars an hour combined on all three of them that I ever spent!

January 13, 2013 at 9:25 am |

JSk

I don't have a nanny, but my housekeeper gets like $40/hour (that I'm sure part of which goes to the agency that employs her) and the lawn crew I pay gets $60 and it takes them 15 minutes to mow, edge, and use a leaf blower on the entire yard, and it's a 15,000sqft yard.

January 14, 2013 at 10:18 am |

Alex

religious community is affected when a family is torn apart by deportation.
======================

The answer is simple. Don't come here illegally to begin with.

January 13, 2013 at 9:24 am |

MrQ

What a novel idea! - Justify criminal behavior with the cloak of God.

The New Testament text says in several places that Man should follow the laws of governing authorities. Thus we see again why so many have left the Church behind in the last 25 years: Hypocrisy and greed.

On the other hand, it has worked many times before. Surely it will work again.

January 13, 2013 at 9:41 am |

EveT

Agreed. The only reason a family is "torn apart" is because one or members of that family chose to break the law by coming here in the first place.

January 13, 2013 at 9:44 am |

jonat

Best way to fix immigration...secure the border and use the e-verify law nationwide. Stop the hiring of illegal workers and they will stop coming here. We have 20 million unemployed Americans that need a job. Illegal immigration drives down wages and impacts poor Americans and minorities the most.

January 13, 2013 at 9:23 am |

Charles Manteghi

Immigration is and always should be a legal issue not a religious concern of any kind.

January 13, 2013 at 9:23 am |

JJ

My grandfather arrived in North America in 1646 from England. Are you saying me and my children should leave?

January 13, 2013 at 9:22 am |

Nate

That would make your grandfather almost 400 years old. Congratulations.

January 13, 2013 at 9:30 am |

JJ

I think all non-idiots realize I didn't want to put 10 "great greats" in there. But....nice dodge on the topic at hand.

January 13, 2013 at 9:46 am |

jvance

I'd think that the Latino voters would be relatively conservative and lean GOP but that clearly didn't happen. The loud anti-immigrant element in the party hurt the GOP signficantly. Of course every party has it's single issue factions but the GOP couldn't seem to keep theirs settled down during the last election cycle. The primaries were brutal and divisive and subsequently a lot of bonehead statements regarding various issues captured a lot of attention.
I'd never have thought that the Democrats could maintain more intra-party discipline than the GOP but they've done it the last couple of years, their hard-liners were hardly heard from.

January 13, 2013 at 9:19 am |

GW Carter

This was once a continent populated by people of color only. I think at least half of the white population should be deported back to northern europe in order to make room for the people who are rightful owners of this land.

January 13, 2013 at 9:17 am |

Attack of the 50 Foot Magical Underwear

People "of colour" – who exactly does that encompass? Are you talking about the various waves of aboriginal peoples who came across the Bering land bridge, and by other possible routes, into the Americas?

January 13, 2013 at 9:21 am |

JJ

My grandfather arrived in North America in 1646 from England. Are you saying me and my children should leave?

to me people are people not color, and if you want it to be that they are colors, well, I think white is a color too? Let's forget and get over the skin color thing. I don't care about skin color, just what kind of a person you are. End of discussion.

The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.